Honored Vow

would
    have had to go too….” She trailed off, wincing.
    “I bet they’re sitting there in silence glowering at each other.”
    “Or Koren’s dancing with all the pretty young things and Domin is
    just sad.”
    And suddenly I understood what she had been saying earlier. I didn’t
    want Domin to be sad or alone. He didn’t deserve to be waiting or cast
    aside. He didn’t. I wanted him to find the guy, the smart guy, the strong
    guy, the guy who could deal with his bullshit and not break. I had thought
    it was Koren, but apparently I was wrong. We all were. And now I wanted
    a prince for the prince of my tribe.
    “I hope he’s not sad.”
    But I had bigger concerns. I knew Domin well enough to know that
    the man had a self-destructive streak in him a mile wide and that he liked
    to test his limits. I had talked to Ivan, his former sylvan, and Markel, and
    understood the level of bad boy that Domin had once been. I didn’t want
    him slipping down the rabbit hole into danger; I didn’t want to lose the
    man that Logan had created, just because his heart was broken. When I
    had seen him the few times in the fall, at Christmas, New Year’s, and one
    other time a week or so ago, there was a hardness in him that I had seen
    when we had first met but that had been missing for so long. I had been
    worried, and then he had come with me and Yuri and Logan to the
    morgue, and he seemed grounded. I wanted to talk to him, but really, we
    had never been friends.
    “We’ll all have to keep an eye on Domin,” I told Delphine.
    She smiled at me. “Isn’t it funny to even be thinking like that?”
    And it was.
    “You know, if Koren could actually pull his head out of his ass, then
    all my brothers would be on the right track, although Russ is being a little
    bit stupid as well.”
    “It was probably just a mistake.”
    “Oh, I forgot I wasn’t supposed to shift? Oopsy.”
    I smiled at her.
    “He wouldn’t have to worry about it being all or nothing if he wasn’t
    trying to turn his back on his entire culture.”

    Honored Vow

    37

    “Well, apparently he’s picking and choosing what parts to keep.” I
    had filled her in about what I thought had happened while we were
    together on the plane.
    “Which is just fucking brilliant, I mean, Christ, Jin, you don’t get to
    keep the parts you want and say screw the parts you don’t. God, I’m gonna
    beat the crap out of him.”
    And she was certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she would get
    that opportunity. I really hoped she was right.

    38

    Mary Calmes

    Chapter Four

    “SO,” DELPHINE said as we walked toward the Italian bistro where Russ
    had gone to meet Blake Dempsey two days prior. “Tell me what an aker
    is, now?”
    I did a slow pan to her.
    “What?”
    “You were serious about that?”
    “Yes, I was serious, just tell me already.”
    I gave her an eye roll and got a swat on the arm as reward. “You’re
    supposed to respect me,” I told her.
    “I missed the memo,” she volleyed back.
    “Fine, in large tribes, ones with either a big territory or just a lot of
    members, there is usually a maahes, or prince, and under him are akers.
    There is normally a manu and a bakhu, always an even number, always
    ruling as a set. So, like, two people here, two there, whatever. They report
    to a maahes who, in turn, as you know, reports to the semel.”
    “So like a sheseru and a sylvan but not reporting to a semel,
    reporting to a maahes.”
    “Except it’s not a position that’s chosen, it’s a position that’s fought
    for. The strongest wins, you fight for it in the pit, and it can be challenged
    at any time.”
    “So if I wanna be a manu or a bakhu and I think I’m stronger than
    the guy or girl who has the title now, I just tell my maahes and he puts us
    in the pit?”
    “Exactly.”

    Honored Vow

    39

    “That sounds barbaric.”
    “It’s survival of the fittest.”
    “But the positions of sylvan and sheseru aren’t decided that way.”
    “The semel chooses the strongest when he’s picking a sheseru and
    the smartest when he’s choosing a sylvan. If he decides that someone else
    is stronger or smarter, he replaces them.”
    She turned to look at me. “Are you kidding?”
    “No.” I smiled at her.
    “I had no idea that Logan could replace Mikhail or Yuri if he
    decided to.”
    I shook my head at her, and she playfully shoved me away.
    “But then how do you account for the bond between a sheseru and
    reah? Wouldn’t Yuri